A As anyone who has ever heard a musical group perform in a locale which specializes in alcoholic beverages in the US or Canada knows, La Bamba is one of those immortal three chord standards which every band plays, along with Old Time Rock & Roll, Louie Louie and Johnny B Goode. What they may not realize is that nobody north of the Rio Bravo knows what the words actually are. Some singers employ a phonetic approximation (pararara la bamba petite seray petite seray petite seray), other recite the Taco Time menu (enchillada burrito quesadilla arriba arriba), but no one gets it right. Of course, if you´re playing for a bunch of overserved rednecks, no one notices the difference. It is quite another matter when the local singers interpret Beatle songs for overserved tourists who actually speak English and may notice the difference, especially early in the night. It still cracks me up to hear that timeless McCartney classic, Hey You, where down here goes something like "Hey zhu, doan bakey bad..." Of course, even for Aglophiles, it is very difficult to figure out what words these overserved rock stars are singing on the original records. What many groups here do is write out the lyrics phonetically, and parrot them without actualy knowing what the in the heck they mean. This is necessary because, English spelling being what it is, John Lennon´s "Imagine" would be pronounced "eema Hee nay". Therefore, the cheat sheet is written out more like "Emachen dersno jeben..." After a few margaritas, it sounds just fine. Here in Mazatlán, there is no doubt as to who is the number one rock´n ´roll band in town. Ask any taxista and they will tell you that Camaléon (chameleon, not bed lion!) is el mero mero. Most of their fans will point to Freddy Pinzón, surely one of the most accomplished guitarists this side of Carlos Santana. Actually, I think one of the untouted secrets for their success is the fact that their main singer, "El Guero" Lewis, lived in Canada for twenty years and actually understands the words he is singing.